Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp will stand trial in January for allegedly evading tax on £180,000 of his earnings.
Redknapp is accused of two counts of cheating the public purse between 2002 and 2007 when he was at Portsmouth Football Club.
He will stand trial alongside former Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric, both of whom have always denied the charges.
Upon his arrest last year Redknapp released the following statement though his solicitor: “Harry has co-operated fully with investigators during the course of this inquiry and is confident of a successful outcome to these court proceedings”.
The Crown alleges that the payments were made “with intent to defraud and to the prejudice of HM Revenue and Customs as a result of or in connection with Henry James Redknapp’s employment and as a reward for services”.
The first charge claims that between 1 April 2002 and 28 November 2007, Mandaric paid £90,000 into a bank account held by Redknapp in Monaco in order to avoid paying income tax and national insurance. The second charge relates to £93,000 that was allegedly paid between 1 May 2004 and 28 November 2007.
Redknapp will need to be totally exonerated in the trial to have any chance of becoming the next England manager. The two-week trial is due to start at London’s Southwark Crown Court on 23 January.
The full indictment against Redknapp and Mandaric reads:
Count one: Milan Mandaric and Henry James Redknapp, between the 1st day of April 2002 and the 28th day of Nov 2007, at the material times respectively the Chairman and the Football Manager of Portsmouth City Football Club Limited, with intent to defraud and to the prejudice of HM Revenue and Customs, arranged for $145,000, paid by Milan Mandaric as a result of or in connection with Henry James Redknapp’s employment and as a reward for services, to be transferred to a Monaco bank account opened by Henry James Redknapp for that purpose, in order to conceal the said emolument from HM Revenue and Customs and evade the payment of Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions thereon (whether by the operation of PAYE by the club or otherwise).
Count two: Milan Mandaric, between the 1st day of May 2004 and the 28th day of November 2007, at the material times the Chairman and the Football Manager of Portsmouth City Football Club Limited, with intent to defraud and to the prejudice of HM Revenue and Customs, arranged for $150,000, paid by Milan Mandaric as a result of or in connection with Henry James Redknapp’s employment and as a reward for services, to be transferred to a Monaco bank account opened by Henry James Redknapp for that purpose, in order to conceal the said employment income from HM Revenue and Customs and evade the payment of Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions thereon (whether by the operation of PAYE by the club or otherwise).
